New Orleans Saints: A Look at the 2015 Schedule

On April 21, 2015 the National Football League released the schedules for the up and coming season and the New Orleans Saints franchise must be delighted with theirs. The NFL has provided the black and gold with a set of games that could set them up for a successful year.

New Orleans will not have to face their NFC south rival Atlanta Falcons in Week One which is a bit of a surprise since the two teams have squared off the past two years in their opening games. Instead the Saints will be traveling to Glendale, Ariz. to start the season on September 13 against one of last year’s playoff teams, the Arizona Cardinals.

This match up will be the first of five games that the Saints will play against 2014 post-season contenders. It’s a good way to start the year and a nice litmus test to see where they stand as a team on offense and defense.

In this first game, they will especially have an opportunity to see how much they have improved on the defensive side of the ball by facing the likes of Cards’ All Pro wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd. Floyd had the second best season of his career in 2014 with 841 yards and six touchdowns.

Arizona receiving speedster John Brown had an impressive rookie season in 2014 and Saints’ Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan will have his work cut out for him in that first game.

Offensively, the Saints will be bringing their new-look passing attack against two former LSU standouts in Arizona’s defensive backs, Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu.

It will be interesting to see how the Saints incorporate running back C.J. Spiller in to the passing game in 2015.

Week Two at home vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be interesting as the Saints won’t have much tape on the Bucs new quarterback, whether it’s Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota.

The Saints, who finished 7-9 in 2014 and did not make the playoffs, will have three prime-time games. This is down from last season’s NFL-maximum of five. All of the national contests will be at home at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The team’s first prime-time showing will be when it hosts the 2014 NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys on October 4 for Sunday Night Football. New Orleans has appeared on that national stage 17 times and is 12-5 on Sunday night.

The Saints have traveled to eight straight Thursday night games. For the first time in the history of these national contests, they will finally get to host one when the NFC South rival Atlanta Falcons visit on  October 15.

New Orleans will have returned from Philadelphia the evening of Oct. 11 before hosting the Falcons that following Thursday.

The black and gold will face the NFC North Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football December 21.

The Saints have the fifth easiest strength of schedule rating in 2015 and, as far as the team’s travel to games is concerned, they must be pleased with how their schedule worked out. Head Coach Sean Payton expressed some frustration last year after the team had to travel to face the Carolina Panthers on a Thursday night following a Sunday night home game against the Green bay Packers.

The late bye in Week 11 breaks up the only back-to-back road games on the schedule: the first at the Washington Redskins on November 15 and the next at the Houston Texans on November 29. This is a huge plus because it gives the team a chance to get some much needed rest before making any sort of late season playoff run. The Saints opened the 2014 season with back-to-back road games and played three of their first four away from the Superdome.

With the NFC South division up for grabs, the New Orleans Saints have a great opportunity to return to the playoffs in 2015.

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